Customer service, which is aligned with customer retention, is a hugely important topic. It can make or break your business. Consumers have little patience for lousy customer service. They easily tire of waiting in long lines, trying to get a live person on the line, going through an interrogation to return something, or trying to communicate through a language barrier.

If you provide them with a simple, efficient, pleasant experience they will revisit your business over and over. More importantly, they will tell everyone they know!

There are three secrets to good customer service. The one we’re discussing today is: Know exactly what YOU want.

You are the leader, the captain of the ship and the visionary for the future of your business. As such, you need to have a clearly defined plan for your business, and that includes customer service. There are three main goals you need to consider in the customer service arena:

It needs to be easy for your customers to do business with you. You can do this with advertised discounts, kiosks, your website and other technology based programs to help them shop.

Doing business with you needs to be a warm and pleasant experience. Your staff has to be knowledgeable, approachable, warm and patient. Your customers need to feel like they are getting a good value for their time and money. Perceived value goes beyond the price of the products and extends to their shopping experience.

Change your mind set and ask yourself “How can I NOT afford to do these things?” This shouldn’t be a question of expenses, but making and keep happy customers. And remember, it is much less expensive to keep an existing customer, than it is to gain a new one.

With these thoughts in mind, you also need to take a few things into consideration when deciding on the actual programs and standards you’ll put into place.

Now that you know what you want, you can start thinking about how to meet those wants and create a positive customer service experience.

Contact me to help you create a powerful, effective, simple business plan. If you’re having a hard time deciding on what you want, the tools, resources and coaching in our FREE test drive can help you define the wants and needs of your company in relation to customer service…and everything else!

Today I’d like to chat about the different types of support staff you need and what makes them so important (these are adapted from the book, The E-Myth). It’s hard as a leader or business owner to let go and let others carry the load, so that you can focus on what you do best, or what only you can do. The cool thing, is that, when you think about it, this is what you need in life, as well. When these are in place, everyone’s candle burns a little brighter.

There are essentially three key roles that need to be filled to set your business up for success:

The Technician

The Manager

The Entrepreneur

All of these roles need to be played simultaneously by different people with the right talents. It’s all about balance.

The Technician

This person represents the present and all that needs to be done for the physical aspects of the business building process. They are the “doer”. This is usually the most visible person of the entire operation.

The Manager

This person represents the past and works to fix problems through learning from past mistakes. They are the practical side of the business and is in charge of putting together the business and overseeing the planning.

The Entrepreneur

This person represents the future and the vision for the business. They are responsible for the creative side of the business and are always considering ways to enhance products/service, business image, branding and more.

All three of these characters are essential in the success of any business and to build a solid foundation from the start, you need to work harder to find the right people to put in these roles. Obviously, you need to be one of these key people, but ensure you find the role that fits your skills and talents, not necessarily what you THINK you should be doing.

This may be a hard process for you as you will need to relinquish some control over the business and instill trust in people to allow them to do their jobs.

Remember, I can help you through this entire process and teach you how to avoid falling victim to e-myths when you try our FREE test drive. www.abundancebizacademy.com

Have you ever dreamed of bowling a 300 game? Well, I’m not giving bowling tips, but I am giving tips on how to achieve a perfect game when dealing with prospects. Today I’m writing on how to turn prospects into customers and retain them for future marketing opportunities. While your marketing is doing its job, you need to be working on turning those prospects into customers. There are a few key ways to draw them in and seal the deal.

You (and your marketing) need to be:

Inviting

Informative

Enjoyable to do business with

The biggest fear of most new customers is the dreaded “buyer’s remorse”. You want to avoid this at all costs and it should be mitigated if you’ve provided a quality product/service that delivers on the marketing claims you’ve made.

However, this can still occur. There are two ways to deal with this:

Offer to refund money–no questions asked

Offer a bonus they can keep even if they return the product

These offers alone will mitigate buyer’s remorse because the customer will trust you more, just for offering these things.

There are number of other ways to turn a prospect into a customer:

Offer a special price as an opportunity for you to test the market.

Offer a lower price with the reason of pushing inventory to pay a tax bill, for your kid’s braces, or another tangible reason. Customers love that this makes you seem so much more human and relatable.

Offer a referral incentive.

Offer a smaller, more inexpensive product first, to build trust.

Offer package deals.

Offer to charge less for their first purchase if they become a repeat customer.

Offer additional, educational information to help them make the decision.

The options really are as limitless as you make it. You can use these or other ideas to find what works best for your business, products/service and target market.

Remember this…

“By making it inviting, easy, informative, non-threatening, educational, inspiring and fun to do business with you, you’ll loft your company above the competition.” Jay Abraham

Need help with figuring out the best strategy for converting prospects into customers? Our FREE test drive gives you exclusive access to the mountain of resources and tools, along with information from some of the greatest marketing minds on Earth.

“Your smile is your logo. Your personality is your business card. How you leave others feeling after having experienced you is your trademark.”

I love this quote from Jay Danzie. I believe that so many of us go through our business hours thinking that we are living a “business life” or expressing a “business persona”. The truth is, there is no “business me” or “personal me”. We bring all of who we are into everything we do. We can’t check ourselves at the door as we enter our workplace, because our beliefs about ourselves, about others, and the world around us ooze out of us no matter where we are. And at some level, that’s what others are experiencing in their interactions with us.

It is so important to take care of and clean up all of who we are: the relationships that are eating at us; the thoughts and beliefs we have; the angers, resentments and lack of forgiveness; the groups we’re tied into; the ways in which we feed our bodies, minds and spirits. If we don’t, we end up tarnishing our “logo”, our “trademark”, and eventually hold ourselves back from fully achieving all the things of which we’re capable.

We’re complex “critters”, and with the complexities of the world in which we’re immersed, we need to be constantly editing all of us, and be attuned to how we’re getting in our own way. See “The 9 Environments of You”, below, and ecosystemofsuccess.com for a great model on how this fits with your profession or business, and contact me to get a free copy of my book Stuckness–140 Insights and Tips to Get Unstuck, Get Going and Get What You Want.

The greatest joy in what I do is to share time, caring, knowledge and my Golden Purpose to help others grow as leaders, design their path to financial freedom and greatness in themselves–and their BUSINESS–and therefore make a bigger difference in their communities and the world.

As a guest on the global tele-summit, Wildly Courageous Financial Freedom, I was interviewed by the host, Alison Palmer. Alison is an English woman, living in France, who has a a huge mission, a huge heart and a huge gift of wisdom and passion for helping others achieve what they most want AND deserve.

I know you dream of making a meaningful impact through your business and creating the income to live the life you know you’re here to live. Lynnea can help you…She’s going to walk us through some very simple steps and give us beautiful images to hold that speak of a profound truth that will make you feel so grounded in such a deep way.

You’ll feel as if you touched base with your inner core in a way that you have forgotten for a long time.

And you’re going to explore how to clarify what freedom from money worries means for you using a very simple process.”

Alison is a wonderful interviewer, who really listens and feels deeply into what people need and what message needs to be brought to the world.

I feel it’s one of the best interviews I have ever done, and give it to you as a gift of love and abundance.

Listen to Lynnea’s inspiring, energizing and very practical interview for this global summit.

You may be thinking, “Educate who about what?” The answer: Invest more time in educating your OLD customers about your new products and services, than spending way more time trying to gain new customers. Then…go a little beyond this, and give them extra care, and watch the “green” in your wallet grow.

Let’s look at this. Many businesses focus solely on attracting new customers, but you NEED to spend a good chunk of your time retaining current and former customers. These are people you already know to be a good sales potential…they’ve already bought from you! Taking time to market and sell new products to your old customers and less time trying to sell old products to new customers can drastically change improve your sales, customer quality and branding position.

Here are a couple of key elements to use to retain your current customers:

Stay in contact: This means by phone, email, e-newsletter, in person (or by pigeon if you have too!)

Do “Post-Purchase Assurance”: This means you need to follow up with customers. Your customers need to feel like they are being supported for their purchase AND for their loyalty. How many times have you purchased a product, then felt completely abandoned? Something as simple as a “Thank You” note can go a long way in retaining a client. Thank about it–don’t you like to feel appreciated?

Give them Deals & Guarantees: Always offer your current customers the best deals and guarantees you have. Show them you appreciate their business. You may want to consider creating a “Loyalty Club” specifically to reward loyal customers. This could include a preferred pricing option.

Use Integrity (and Build Trust): Using good business practices and simply upholding integrity, dignity and honesty goes a long way with customers. The safer and more confident you make your customers feel, the more they will trust you–and that makes for a supportive and loyal customer.

There are three cornerstone ideas to a thriving business:

Quality product/service

Offering useful products/services that solve a problem for or enhance the life of a customer

Go beyond just your product, to educating customers on subjects they find interesting or useful.

Use this approach of educating your customers and offering them real information and insight and you will be rewarded with loyalty and success.

In simple summary: Stop wasting all your time on new prospects, and show extra love and support to the old or existing ones!

As Jay Abraham says, “Your best prospects are your existing customers. If you’ve been putting all your marketing efforts into acquiring new customers, stop and divert some of your resources into reselling, upselling, cross-selling to those same customers. In every way possible – through package inserts, regular mailings, special offers – stay in touch with those customers and get them used to buying from you.”

So, there it is! (And remember, our FREE test drive can help you put together the resources and tools to do exactly that. We can help you educate your customers and you can watch the benefits pay off)

We Create a 3-Way Win—Productivity, Profits and People–by Building Businesses and Communities That Inspire the Soul.

We Provide Tools, Development and Retreats for Leaders and Their Teams.

Do you want to realize the powerful possibilities in your life, and start to experience “your cup running over”? To be healthier, happier, more successful, and have better relationships at work and at home? That’s what we want for you too.

Let’s work on it. Together. All services come with a guarantee. If you receive no value from working with us, we will refund your money.

Start building your own “Pathway to Prosperity” now, with free, 24/7 access to this powerful webinar. You’ll receive guidance for a personal Success Plan, plus oodles of inspiration and tools to bloom BIG!

12 Steps For the Small Business Owner to Hire an Assistant and Lighten Your Load

(Part of the Small Business Success Tips series)

Stop going in circles, and start moving forward.

As a small business owner, you probably tend to “own it all”. Although it’s true that it is your business, this doesn’t mean that you need to DO it all. Free up your time, energy, talent and (dare I say?) life—and be MORE productive–by getting some tasks off your plate. I have hired some wonderful, dependable and effective assistants, and have developed a super process to get (and retain) just the right person. The steps provide continual “testing” along the “path to hire”–to minimize problems and headaches later on.

Big companies know the value of being “slow to hire”. I was a director of two technical staffing firms, and I have also worked for two of the top “slow to hire”, multi-step hiring companies–AT&T and Disney– and have experienced the process intimately, first hand. These two companies have a very high retention, low turnover rate that is attributed to their hiring processes. You see, the psychology of taking time, and asking more effort of the candidates, places a higher “implied value” on the position. People tend to value that which is not easily provided to them…and so it is with job applicants. By taking a little extra time, these companies get just the right people. And so can you.

Keep this in mind—your job is to be best at what you do, which is really what you’re providing to your clients. You are the expert at the technology or service which you provide. You need to be DOING that expertise, right? If you’re not the one doing it in your company, who else is going to? Other people can do the other “stuff” which is NOT part of the expertise in your company (i.e.: YOU). You will make more money by freeing up your brain, energy and time to do what you do best.

So, here’s my proven 12 step process for finding that special someone to help you:

1. Make a list of what you:

Hate to do

Don’t do well

Put off doing

Isn’t the best use of your time and/or talent to learn, but needs be done.

Scratch out those things that really don’t need to be done. Some things may just be habits that can be eliminated. So, use this time to ditch ‘em!

Figure out how much you’re willing and able to pay. If you’re not able to pay anything, don’t let that be a show stopper. Some college students want “intern credits” and work experience, and will work for free. In 2011 I hired a part-time admin for $8.00 an hour who was a senior at San Jose State University. He was highly capable, efficient and bright. The low pay was not an issue for him…and he was one of many good candidates happy to work for the low pay. My current assistant is a college junior who is reliable and brilliant, and is thrilled for the learning experience of working with me and the impact he can have on my business. If no interns are available, and you can’t afford anything, perhaps you’re able and willing to do a full or partial exchange of services. Decide on your payment type and amount now.

Start the job postings/email processes. Set up a separate folder for applicants’ emails. (I set up a separate, new email account on Gmail to be used for applicants to send communication to me.)

Send out emails to friends, family, groups you’re part of, or do a posting on Facebook describing what you’re looking for, and the tasks you’ll need handled. Make sure that you state that “the tasks MAY include….”. To accomplish more, you may need more than one person to do various tasks. That’s alright. One person may be great at posting on social networking sites, another may be great at making phone calls. You can divide one 20-hour position into two 10-hour positions. – OR—

Contact your local college/university and see if they have a job posting/job board service. This is what I did, and I got a highly capable, fast, accurate, conscientious (and inexpensive!) young man for an “as needed” assistant. As I mentioned. some students will even work for a free “internship”. (Note: If you are worried about dealing with immaturity issues, be aware that many college students are well beyond the 18-to-21-years-old range, and eager to work. I have had great experience with 20-21-year olds!)

When listing the job opening , whether to a group or on a job board, state the pay range, hours required, education required (registering on a job board site will prompt you to be clear with the details), location (on-site or virtual), and any other questions people might have. (Think of the “journalistic questions: Who, What, When, Where, Why, How) This will save you lots of time on returning inquiries. Be very clear up front with yourself first, so you can address this later.

Make sure all responses go to an email address. As I mentioned, my applicants sent responses to a separate a Gmail account set up just for receiving job responses and resumes. If you chose to set up a special folder for job applicants, move applications/inquiries into the dedicated folder as they come in, to be reviewed later. This will allow you to easily set aside a dedicated block of time each day to go over all the applicants. Don’t give out a phone number yet. That’s part of a later step.

How to Efficiently Weed Out and Hire Job Applicants

So, okay. You’ve taken the steps described above, and you’re ready to receive responses from eager candidates.

Responding to applicants–

Craft a “Thanks but no thanks” email for ones in whom you have no interest, and send that out to them right away (otherwise, they may keep emailing you, and it’s good to respect them AND yourself by not delaying or wasting time).

Craft a “Thank you, and I’m interested in seeing if we’d be a good match” message to ones who might be a good fit for your needs…and (this is very important) ask them to call you. Record the phone greeting in step 7, below (I used my home number…see how in the next step).

Every day, review the applicants and send out the pre-written email response, and be prepared for phone calls.

Phone procedures. Use a phone number that you don’t use much or don’t feel that you MUST answer. Change your greeting to say something like: (>>speaking very clearly<<) “Hello. If you’re calling about the job posting, please stay on the line for further instructions. If you are calling on another matter, please press “pound”, and leave your message. I will call you back….” Pause for a count of 3, then:

“If you’re calling about the job, please leave the following information:

Your name, your phone number. State the least and most number of hours you can work per week or per month, and what interested you about the job. I will get back to you within 24 hours. Thanks for calling.” This is what I call the “how well do you speak and think on your feet? test” for the applicants…a great way to continue the “weeding out” process!

Follow-up. So now you have their written information (their resume or list of skills), and a good idea of how well they verbally communicate and think on their feet (they’ve left you a phone response). Now what?

Email the ones that don’t pass the “phone message test” (group A), with the “Thanks but no thanks” email you crafted earlier.

Pull out the resumes of the ones you want to talk to (group B)

Call group B candidates, asking them to set up a time for a phone call—or perhaps talk to them right away, if convenient for both of you. NOTE: No in person meeting yet!

Now for the live phone conversation:

Get a note pad for TAKING NOTES, and have the resume as well.

Start with this opening line: “Tell me about yourself”. That will start the conversation flowing, and you can ask more questions for clarification, using the resume as a guide.

State the job duties, and ask them their comfort level with each of them, on a scale of 1-5 (or whatever feels right for you).

Take notes on all this!

If you like them, do NOT offer them the job yet! Ask them to send you a description of the conversation you just had with them. Nothing fancy.

Ask them when they could get this in to you.

Ask them to review your web site to get an idea of what you do.

Okay, so you should have a pretty good handle on the applicants’ skills (speaking skills, writing skills), background, job needs, strengths, and ability to think and express themselves quickly and effectively.

There are a couple of ways to go forward:

Meet with them to get better acquainted, and perhaps go over your job requirements. This would be a good time to bring something you’ll want them to review with you, or you may want to review something on the Internet with them.

If you are having an inner debate over two or more candidates, you may ask them to do a quick piece of research for you and get back to you with their recommendation/findings (I had my future assistant look at Social Oomph, and find out costs, capabilities, etc., and compare it to another service. I needed this info, but didn’t have the time to research it myself.)

Finishing up—making the mutual commitment:

Make your decision.

Contact the lucky gal or guy, and ask them when they can start.

Create a “Letter of Understanding” (LOA), with start date, agreed-upon pay structure (their wage to start, what kind of wage increase later, and when), job functions, number of hours, how often they will be paid, where they will work at your business or wherever they wish), insurance coverage (none), etc. It’s best to over-communicate, than to have misunderstandings down the road! (Feel free to contact contact me for the LOA I use.)

Make two copies of LOA

You sign both copies

Your new assistant signs both copies.

You each keep a copy of the LOA.

Start getting your “hand-off’s” in order…you have a new assistant! Congratulations to both of you!

If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it fall, did it make a sound? This is the general conundrum behind why it is critical that you take the two steps below very seriously. You’ve absolutely got to do them or the whole process of necessary growth to achieve your dreams just isn’t going to work. So, what are they? They are “involve” and “change”. Today’s article is adapted from Marshall Goldsmith (one of my favorite people to interview on my “Abundance Leadership” radio show–a wise and fun man!)

What is “involve”? It’s like advertising. You must tell everyone exactly in what area you plan to change. You must let people “hear” the “falling tree”. You’ve said you’re sorry, you’ve apologized for the behavior, now you’re going to tell people you’re going to do something about it. This is a tough one, because it’s a lot harder to change people’s perceptions of your behavior than it is to change your behavior. That’s because people view you in accordance with their existing stereotype of you (based on your past behavior).

However, your odds of being perceived as getting better greatly improve if you tell people you are going to try to change. Suddenly your efforts are on their radar screens. If you tell everyone how hard you are trying and repeat the message week after week, your odds improve again. Your odds improve even more when you ask people for ideas on how you can get better. People become invested in you and they are paying attention to see if you are using their suggestions.

With all of this advertising, people start to accept the possibility of a new you, and you have pointed everyone’s attention in the direction of the falling tree.

Change is simple, but it’s not easy. It’s hard, very hard…but, you have to do it in order to get different results. You have to put in the time and effort that it takes to change.

When you commit to getting better, you are doing something difficult and heroic. There isn’t a quick fix or easy solution. Lasting goal achievement requires a lot of time, hard work, personal sacrifice, ongoing effort, and dedication to a process that is maintained over years.

So, you’re committed, you’re ready, you’re willing to change. What holds you back? What might keep you from following through on your commitment to change? It comes in the form of a dream that most of us have had. I have this dream often. It goes like this:

You know, I’m incredibly busy right now. In fact, I’m busier than I’ve ever been. I feel overcommitted. My life even feels a little out of control. We’re working on some unique challenges now, and I think the worst of this will be over in a couple of months. After that, I’m going to spend a couple of weeks, getting organized, spending time with the family, working out. Everything is going to change then and life won’t be crazy anymore.

Have you had this dream? How long have you been having this dream? How’s it working for you?If you want to change anything about yourself, the best time to start is now. Ask yourself, “What am I willing to change NOW?” Then involve others. That’s more than enough. For now.

To Your Abundance,LynneaP.S.–For only $1.99, make sure to grab my latest book, STUCKNESS–140 Insights and Tips to Get Unstuck, Get Going, and Get What You Want. The “Think A-Ha!” format is fun, quick, and easy to share with colleagues, clients and friends.

Are you like me? There are feelings, habits, hurts that I want to clear out of my life, heart and mind; and so many fresh, loving, joyful things I want to bring in–not just for 2015, but waaay beyond. You and I have too many gifts to bring to the world, and too many wonderful things to experience to have any “negative weights” hanging around our necks or blocking our paths! The thing is, like old clothes, junk and other things, these things need to be cleaned out! They’re just getting in our way.Here’s a method I use every new year to release old things that are cluttering my thoughts, soul, environment (and are, just generally not in my best interest); and, conversely, bring in what I do want–those things that nurture and uplift my mind, body, heart and soul in ways that energize and feed me for the days and years ahead.This is a wonderful exercise to do alone, or with a close friend or loved one. Your choice.

(As a reminder, the wonderful free webinar, “Achieve Your Dreams–Envision, Strategize, and Move Boldly Into the New Year” is January 7th at 6 PM, PST. More information here. )

Recipe for Releasing the Old, and Bringing in the New: What you’ll need:1. a fireplace or other safe place to do a little burning and lighting–could even be your kitchen sink. (This won’t take much space, and is safe..believe me!) 2. matches (I prefer long ones) 3. little slips of paper4. candles (any kind will do–I use little votive candles, tall candles, whatever I have on hand. I use a LOT of candles, because there’s always a LOT I want to work on! ) 5. a sheet of paper6. pen or pencil

A. Sit down, relax take 3 slow, deep breaths, (and say a prayer if you choose) and write on the small slips of paper all of the things you want to release, change, or have less of. One item per piece of paper. Examples: resentment, judging, procrastination, loneliness, anger, unforgiveness, lack of productivity, impatience, selfishishness.B. On the sheet of paper, list all the things that are the exact opposite of the things on the little paper pieces. These are your new items of hope, and each candle represents an item on this list for the new year.C. Now gather up all of the paper (including the list of opposites), the candles,matches, and go to your fireplace, fire pit or kitchen sinkD. Close your eyes, breathe deeply and slowly, and say to the Divine, to the Universe, to Source (it’s from your heart, and in your words): “In honor and in love to myself and those around me, I release these things that do not serve me, others, or the world”.E. Then, one by one, light one slip of paper, and say, for example, “I release impatience”–and put the burning piece in the fireplace. Then, “I release judging”–and put it in the fireplace. Do this one by one by one until all pieces are gone, and their flames are releasing up to the Universe.F. Using the flames from what you’ve released, light the candles, one by one. Each candle represents an item on your list for the new year. Say, for example, as you light the first candle. “I light the flame of acceptance”. Then, as you light the second candle, “I light the flame of patience”, or “I light the flame of getting things done”. Do this, one by one, until you have established a new flame for every new hope.G. When all candles are lit, I recommend you use this time as a time of silence, praying or meditating over the list of new feelings, thoughts, behaviors, and let the candles continue to burn for a while, to symbolize illuminating the path of hope for the new year.H. Finally, for the next week (better, for the next month), read the list to yourself when you get up in the morning and right before you go to sleep, and celebrate or give thanks for the growth and hope that is part of who you are.

Much Love and Happy New Year! And hope to “see” you on January 7th (and you’ll get my new book, Stuckness, to boot!)To Your Abundance!Lynnea